Council reviews mall art sale policy

Tue Jun 08 13:36:00 EST 2010

The Alice Springs Town Council is reviewing its policy of banning hawkers without permits from selling artwork in the Todd Mall.

The council's chief executive, Rex Mooney, says a number of art gallery operators say it is unfair to their business and are also complaining about the antisocial behaviour of some of the people selling art.

He says the council has been in talks with the Uniting Church, where many artists paint on the lawn.

"Well there might be a review of the permit fee, there might be some hours to confine the activity to," Mr Mooney said.

"Some of the practices take place when our rangers aren't available, so there's a whole review of the practices and the procedures that we have in place at the moment."

But an Aboriginal artist who often sells her paintings in the Todd Mall says she wants to be allowed to continue.

Artist Margaret Scobie says she likes to sell her paintings from the Uniting Church lawns so she can tell tourists her stories and catch up with people for a chat.

"Why they tell us to move away with the canvas, we're just sitting with the canvas," she said.

"We're not doing anything, we're just trying to sell our canvas for money."